Additional personnel: Ruby Belle (vocals); Lance (piano, vocals); Shecky Stein (piano); Shawn Smith (background vocals).

Recorded at Bear Creek, Woodinville, Washington and Buzz's Kitchen, Los Angeles, California in July and August 1991.

Personnel: Rick McCollum (vocals, guitar); Lance (vocals, piano); Shawn Smith (vocals, background vocals); Miss Ruby Belle, Greg Dulli, John Curley , Rick & Bubba (vocals); Shecky Stein (piano); Steve Earle (drums).

Recording information: Bear Creek Studio, Woodinville, WA (07/1991-08/1991); Bear Creek, Woodinville, WA (07/1991-08/1991); Buzz's Kitchen, Los Angeles, CA (07/1991-08/1991).

Photographers: Chris Cuffaro; John Curley .

The grunge era's most overlooked masterpiece, Congregation was the Afghan Whigs' breakthrough album, an incendiary and insidious set which bridges the gap between the noisy aggression of the band's early releases and the soulful swagger of their later work. Slipping with ominous ease into the sinister, self-obsessed Lothario guise which would serve him so well from here on out, Greg Dulli announces his arrival as a truly magnetic presence -- by turns predator ("Tonight") and prey ("I'm Her Slave"), he's the guy your parents always warned you about, delivering each syllable of his remarkable lyrics with equal measures of innuendo and venom. Equally startling is the Whigs' musical growth -- while still unmistakably a member of the Sub Pop stable, there's a greater maturity and depth to their sinewy sound, with a newfound grasp of mood and nuance on tracks like the opening "Her Against Me" and "Let Me Lie to You" -- the wah-wah guitar which dominates "Turn On the Water," meanwhile, offers the first taste of the funk ambitions to follow. It was hardly a surprise when the Whigs jumped to Elektra soon after -- Congregation was clearly their ticket to the big leagues. ~ Jason Ankeny

The third Afghan Whigs album, 1992's CONGREGATION, turns on one clear thematic axis: relationships going bad. CONGREGATION's emotional terrain covers the straits between man and heroin ("I'm Her Slave") and those between men and women. Varying the Sub Pop "grunge" formula, the Whigs stretch their wings musically, including several clean-sounding slow songs. If not for the subject matter, these could probably be called ballads.

Drummer Steven Earle hammers out solid frames for Rick McCollum's guitar showmanship, but this is really singer and lyricist Greg Dulli's hour. His emerging persona as damaged sinner is in full force here. The aggressive, snarling predator of "Conjure Me" promises to "Turn on you, before you turn on me." Elsewhere, Dulli offers the downright mean-spiritedness of "you were only mean to me" ("This is My Confession") and a sickening transformation into "Let Me Lie To You"'s soothing crooner of "I won't ever hurt you." A secret bonus track, "Miles Iz Dead," closes the album with a chilling chorus of "Don't forget the alcohol." Previewing the UPTOWN AVONDALE EP, a cover of "The Temple" (from JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR) demonstrates the group's knack for transforming covers into Afghan Whigs originals.